Second glance
by Soulreciever
Summary: Sometimes when within a crowd, or pushed at the edge of one, he finds himself looking for HIM. Anime vese. Movie spoliers. Slash. technical AU.


Second glance.

T: Firstly I wish to state that though I'm new to the fandom I'm not new to so please feel free to give me constructive criticism. Next on the agenda is warnings…it's set in the ANIME chronology, it's based AFTER the movie's conclusion and thus contains MOVIE spoilers and spoilers for the SERIES END…it's also, fairly well from the word go, a Roy/Ed slash fic, thus if the paring or the idea of two guys together squicks you out then I'd advise you to leave now! Lastly comes the disclaimer and I wish to state that if, after reading this, you believe I own Full Metal Alchemist I'll be very flattered…it's not true, of course, but why should that matter to my ego?

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Sometimes, when he was caught into a crowd or pressed tight near the edge of one, he'd catch himself looking for _his_ face.

It was a habit that had begun innocently enough, with him scouring the crowds for any familiar face, and that had become, as the months had passed, an all encompassing obsession.

To begin with he had not known why it was so important for him to see the other again, he had simply followed the compulsion blindly and puzzled over the ache in the heart of him each time that his search proved fruitless.

Yet as he has matured, as he had grown into his heart, he had begun to understand…

…Had begun to comprehend the terrible truth of the situation that he had stumbled into.

He'd strived even harder after that, to find a way back…had pushed himself well past his limitations.

Eventually it had been more luck than determination that had brought him home again, the cost of such a break higher than he would ever be willing to pay. Thus, though it had torn him in two, he'd chosen to return back to the other side of the Gate…chosen to destroy his only sure road back.

He had looked into _his_ eye and had resisted, somehow, the desire to day 'goodbye'…had chosen to cling to the vain hope that he might yet find another path, and that he might thus see the other again.

The prospect of eternal exile from the world he had been born upon, had become depleted slightly when he had learned that Al had followed him back across the Gate.

Having his brother again at his side had eased a little of the ache in his heart and for a brief while the habit had ceased.

Soon enough it had returned the desperation within the habit having only intensified with time.

Indeed so strong did the compulsion become that even Al, whom was growing still into his perceptive ability, had noted,

"You are always looking into the crowd of late, 'nii-san."

"I know."

His brother had recognised the subtle hint to leave the matter be and, though sometimes he was clearly tempted, he had not since raised the subject.

The matter had gotten bad enough that, even when they were alone, a movement in the corner of his vision or a sound would have him looking for the other's face.

Then, on a day when his brother had left the house in order that they both might have a little 'alone' time, he finds the one he had been looking for.

For a moment he did not believe his eyes, then the other smiled in that oh so demeaning manner and he knew that it could not be anything other than real.

"You look a little stunned, Full Metal,"

"Don't I have a right to be 'stunned'?"

"Perhaps."

"You also stowed away, I take it?"

"That is correct."

"And you've been stalking me ever since?"

"Not 'stalking', per say…"

"Just following us without our knowledge?"

"I did not want to intrude."

"I'd have allowed you that one if it hadn't been well over a year since we crossed back over."

"I am glad to see that you have not lost your obnoxious streak."

"As much as I enjoy besting you in an argument colonel, I'd actually like to hear your explanation."

"It is also nice to see that you have grown up a little since our last encounter…" The other smiles in response to the death glare he sends him and remarks, "But you wanted my explanation…honestly, I was afraid that you would have changed enough that I would have nothing to say to you. Thus, rather than face the awkwardness that would result from such a conclusion, I decided to observe you for a while."

"You want me to believe that?"

"It is the truth."

It's odd to see the other so fragile and, though he hates to admit it, more than a little unnerving…

"You're not who you used to be."

"I do not suppose that I am, no…" Whether by design or simple co-incidence the other's fingers have strayed to play at the edge of his eye patch, this gesture allowing him to make a little more sense out of this odd behaviour.

"It seems that you were right to believe that I would've grown beyond you, especially if you think that I would worry over something as insignificant as a missing eye." He taps his metal arm to better underline his point and the other's smile grows a little truer.

"Somehow I know that would be your response."

He is a little reluctant to ask the question burning on his lips, if only because of how much it could change his life, yet he knows that it needs asking…knows that, less he as it now, it shall become as a wall between them,

"Why did you come/"

"When we met you in Risenbol on the day that your father came back I allowed you to do your own thing…let you go because I believed it best.

"Like Alphonse I believed you alive when we first lost you and yet, unlike your brother, I choose to let you go, not, this time, for your sake but for my own.

"The instant that I saw you again I knew what you were planning on doing and I knew that I would be unable to let you go again, despite the shear volume of the sacrifice I was making and the selfish nature of my decision."

"I could almost believe that you 'cared' about me." He is amazed, considering the speed of his heart, that the phrase comes out in the causal manner that he had intended, rather than tipping his hand.

The colonel seems to come to some form of clarity then, for he pulls the patch from his face and, his blind eye thus exposed, he remarks,

"I did it because I love you, Edward."

He reacts, firstly, to the sound of his true name on the other's lips, his body tensing and his breathing speeding to match the staccato of his heart.

The he resisters, rather belatedly, the confession wrapped into the sentence and suddenly even the meagre distance between them seems all too much.

Thus he closes this divide, his metal arm lifting to caress, absently, at the skin about the other's voided eye and his lips twisting into, what he hopes is a genuine, yet also enticing, smile.

"If that is truly your reasoning then I am glad, for I love you also."

The pressure upon his lips but a moment later is unexpected yet not unwanted and, after a single moment of hesitation, he gives into the passion bottled within the intimate touch.

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T: Ta da! Please R+R I would love to know what you think of this, it's my baby after all!


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